Lido Cantarutti speaks about family, friends and the Italian culture with an undeniable passion. His love for these ideals is what led him to found the Italian Film Festival of Marin County 39 years ago. It is also what kept him in the classroom teaching the Italian language to College of Marin students for 30 years — even now past retirement.

It’s a good thing, too. The 76-year-old San Rafael resident was honored last week, becoming the fourth American-born person to be recognized with the title of Commendatore dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, or Knight Commander of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy. It is the third level of knighthood, an acknowledgement made by the Italian president, to celebrate his homage to the Italian lifestyle. Cantarutti will soon also join a list of 10 other locals (including the IJ’s Paul Liberatore) to be honored for his outstanding participation and contributions to cultural life in Marin, receiving the 2016 Cultural Treasure Award from the Marin County Cultural Services Commission.

Q: How does it feel to be receiving these honors?

A: I have to tell you, I’m not sleeping much — I’m so excited. Also, I’m proud to have this acknowledgement and I’m glad for my sons, because they will have the legacy of this. We come from a poor farming background, which is why my parents came to the United States to pursue a better life. I’m very proud.

Q: Did your parents inspire your work?

A: They were a great example. I’m looking at their picture right now. I keep it in my office at home. They were good people. They were people who wanted to help their neighbor. They were here to do good in this country for our family and friends as well. I really found that I enjoyed teaching. It was my formation. I was raised in this culture, raised in this language. I was raised with these wonderful people: Italian. It was great to teach something that was so close to me.

Q: What’s your favorite part of teaching?

A: It’s this: When you are explaining the concept of the language, the concept of the grammar, as a teacher you should always be observing the faces of the students, the reaction of the students. When I look out there and I see when their faces illuminate and I know they understood what I just explained to them — that particular concept of the Italian language — it is a huge satisfaction. It’s a great satisfaction.

Q: Why did you start the Italian Film Festival?

A: When I was able to see some of the great classic films that had come out of Italy I thought, “Oh my goodness, these are really great films.” I thought, how wonderful to possibly share this with other people by making more of these films available to Bay Area audiences. That brought together all of these streams of my life —my interest in films, my own Italian language, culture and family.

Adrian Rodriguez covers transportation, San Rafael and the Ross Valley for the Marin IJ. He also writes the weekly business column Movers & Shakers, which appears in Friday's paper. Reach the author at arodriguez@marinij.com or follow Adrian on Twitter: @adrianrrodri.